White Sox notebook: Pierzynski's contract extended

Sunday

Sep 30, 2007 at 12:01 AMSep 30, 2007 at 9:10 PM

Love him or hate him, A.J. Pierzynski plans on being on the South Side for at least the next three years. That’s because the White Sox agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million contract extension with the catcher that will kick in after his $5.85 million contract for next year expires.

Nathaniel Whalen

Love him or hate him, A.J. Pierzynski plans on being on the South Side for at least the next three years.

That’s because the White Sox agreed to a two-year, $12.5 million contract extension with the catcher that will kick in after his $5.85 million contract for next year expires.

It was a deal that had been in the making since chairman Jerry Reinsdorf approached Pierzynski about six weeks ago.

“The scarcity of catching out there obviously played into part of the decision,” general manager Ken Williams said. “I think more importantly he's a guy we won a championship with. He has proven to me he can handle a pitching staff in such a way he can get the most out of them.”

Pierzynski, 30, decided he’d rather remain with the Sox than test the free-agent market next winter.

“I consider this my home,” said Pierzynski, who will have a six-team no-trade clause for the life of the contract. “I've been here three years now, and I can be here longer now. It's a place I won a World Series, a place they welcomed me when there were some questions marks. So you want to reward them and I wasn’t out to break the bank. I just wanted a fair deal and they gave that to me.”

One of the big factors in Pierzynski’s decision to re-up is the commitment the Sox have shown by re-signing manager Ozzie Guillen, Mark Buehrle and Jermaine Dye this season.

“You look at Kenny and Jerry and Ozzie, they want to win, they don’t want to rebuild,” said Pierzynski, who has caught 130 games (116 starts) this year and batted .263 with 14 homers and 50 RBI. “They don’t want to have to go through anything. They want to win by keeping guys here and bringing guys back for the long term.”

What about Uribe?

One of the biggest decisions the Sox will have to make this winter is whether to pick up the $5 million option on shortstop Juan Uribe.

Guillen said Thursday that Uribe is the best option in a thin market, and on Saturday, Williams sounded like a man who wants to bring the defensive whiz back.

“Juan is a championship type shortstop,” Williams said. “I traded for him four years ago because we needed someone to catch the ball in the middle of the infield and not too many people do it better than Juan Uribe.

“Is he a little frustrating sometimes at the plate with some of the inconsistencies? Absolutely, but only because you see so much talent in there.

“Juan Uribe is not our problem. He’s not the reason we did not play very well this year. Can he be better? Absolutely.”

What about Podsednik?

It’s widely assumed the Sox will let Scott Podsednik go after this season mainly because he is, as Guillen said at one point, “unreliable” because of all his injuries.

“In his case I’m going to have to sit down with some of our medical people as well because it’s not a matter of Scotty Podsednik’s ability,” Williams said. “He’s a first-class leadoff guy. He’s gotten a lot better in left field this year. That’s not the issue.

“He’s proven he can play on a championship team. The issue is, can we afford to go into next year not knowing how health is going to play into it? And, as Jerry Owens has come on, that’s made that decision a little bit more difficult.”